The Poor Shall be Rich: Three Voices message for 11/10/24

Last weekend I had the honor of emceeing the Greater Oneida Chamber of Commerce annual award dinner. The biggest award of the evening went to my friends from the KEYS Program, a musical outreach for children facing life-threatening illnesses. I was so thrilled to be there, celebrating with these people who have done so much to comfort children in some of their gravest times of need. I got dressed up for the event … truthfully kind of surprised that my dinner jacket still fit … donned a snazzy tie … and mingled with politicians, company CEOs and business owners for the evening. I was having a great time with friends old and new. Then I started looking around at that crowd and it struck me that I was likely the poorest person in that room of local luminaries! But how do we really justify who is rich and who is poor? In today’s reading Mark 12: 38-44 As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplace, who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!” As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had - she gave all she had to live on.” we find a Widow placing a paltry two coins in the offering. Meanwhile, the rich were placing large amounts of cash in there. Jesus is watching nearby and sensing a teaching moment, calls his disciples together to learn about what had happened. Jesus tells them that she actually made the large contribution because it was much more of a sacrifice for her than for them. While a big bank account might be nice short-term, in the long run money can’t buy happiness, it can’t buy love and it can’t buy health. People joke about money making life better but does it really? Who is happier, the rich people in this passage, or the Widow who has shared of herself and earned the blessing of Jesus? You definitely can’t put a price on a good reference from the Lord! Of course, I am also far from the poorest person I know. Not all that long ago, I had the opportunity to interview some homeless folks in Rome for a series of articles we were running and that was eye opening. The situation was not at all like I imagined. The people I talked to were very self-reliant and self-confident, adamant not to accept help from anyone else, nor to live by anyone else’s rules. Living in the woods with all of your belongings in a single bag was actually a choice for each of the five or six persons I talked with in the Bellamy Harbor Park. One in particular, Eric, admitted he had family right there in Rome, but he wouldn’t live with them because he wanted to do his own thing. He wouldn’t go to a shelter because he didn’t want to follow their rules. Living in the woods wasn’t all that bad … he told me how he actually dug out a small living area in the ground and even a dirt bench to sit in by his fire. If it wasn’t for all of the cold months around here, I could almost go for that kind of freedom. I doubt Noah would like to be separated from his electronics, though, and I suppose it wouldn’t really take long to miss my music. But one thing I know for sure is that God is out there in the woods with Eric. Even before we hear about the Widow, however, Jesus says to beware of presumptuous teachers of the law, who feel they are better than everyone else. They are taking advantage of others while maintaining a façade of being prayerful. They are putting on a false-face of being for the people … when they are really in it for themselves. They might be able to fool the people, Jesus notes, but they won’t fool Him … and their punishment for their deceit shall be much worse than what they have done to the people they’ve taken advantage of in the past. Have we just seen some of that in our own Election Day this week? Maybe so. Some 2,000 years since the time of Jesus and nothing has really changed all that much, has it? But there are so many teachers of law who are there to help. I dare say I think it is still the majority. We have so many teachers and helpers out there who reach out to the poor - whether in finances, relationships, health, or even faith - to make them richer. Hopefully we feel a bit of that right here. Back to that chamber meeting for a minute … besides the KEYS Program, awards were also given out to the Worthy boutique on Lenox Avenue and the CPA firm Gustafson and Wargo. But none of the awards was for making a major profit. Those awards, instead, were for the way those two businesses actually profited their community. Worthy sells gently used, high-end clothing and accessories so all women can feel, well, “worthy” of having nice things. And the CPAs were described in the award presentation as being easy to talk to as friends, rather than as accountants. There was never a mention of how much each had made in the last fiscal year because that is not what the award dinner was all about. I believe that message is the exact same message we see here today. Just as the meek shall inherit the earth, so too shall the poor become rich, and all in the name of the Lord. Jesus didn’t check anyone’s bank account when He called the Disciples to His side, nor did He stay strictly in the prosperous lands in His travels. Quite the opposite, really. And who better to minister to than the poor? There are so many distractions in the lives of rich people, as they constantly strive to stay rich. Much like a child with way to many toys, maybe his name is Noah, there is just so much there that he might not appreciate all of the smaller nuances. Some of my best friends are the simplest people I know. I find in the hustle and bustle of my every day life it actually feels relaxing to be around someone living a simpler lifestyle. And I have to admit every time I see a horse and buggy traveling down the road I am kind of envious of that life. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to last long without my modern conveniences, but I like to think about how uncluttered my mind would become without the constant barrage of electronics. Maybe someone who is too poor to afford all of the latest technology with the need for a degree in IT to run it isn’t really that bad off at all. Have you tried to buy a computer, or even an oven recently? Why do I need one that will not only cook my dinner but will walk the dog afterwards? And only after I’ve spent as much time as a full college course trying to learn how to operate the new-fangled technology. The best news of all for the “poor” folks is it doesn’t cost you anything to go to church. You can give what you’ve got. People don’t even dress up in their “Sunday finest” anymore. Everyone is welcome. Our Sunday mornings here are a great time to enrich each other with the spirit, to brighten all of our days. Rich or poor, or anywhere in between, we all are a bit richer from having gone to church on a Sunday … and we carry along that wealth as we go back out into the world when we leave. Amen.

The Time Has Come: Three Voices sermon for March 17

Previously, in our studies of the Bible … In John 2:1-4, there is a wedding in the town of Cana. Jesus' mother Mary said to Him, “They are out of wine.” Jesus replied, “You must not tell me what to do. My time has not yet come.” In John 7:1-6, Jesus traveled in Galilee. The time for the Festival of Shelters was near, so Jesus' brothers said to him, “Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your followers will see the things that you are doing.” Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come.” In Mark 8: 27-30, Jesus asked His disciples, “Tell me, who do people say I am?” They answered, “Some say that you are John the Baptist. Others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of the prophets.” Jesus asked them "What about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” Then Jesus ordered them, “Do not tell anyone about me.” The last time I was up here, we talked about Mark 9: 2-9, as Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain. As they watched, Jesus and his clothes became shining white and then the three disciples saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus. But then as they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has risen from death.” End of flashback. Now, finally, today we come to the words, “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory.” It’s been the same wait we go through every year, and so much shorter for us than it was for the Disciples. And we know how the story is going to turn out! Easter is an early one this year, too, so we get to relive the resurrection in all of its glory that much earlier this month. Again, Jesus tells them and us a parable, and by now you can probably tell I love diving head first into His parables. We have a grain of wheat that is only a single grain until it dies and becomes many grains. But what does that mean? Dying is shedding their solitary life to join the union of believers and finally go on to the eternal reward. On a smaller scale, we ourselves become many grains as we meet together here at our own Three Voices. Jesus has obviously accepted His fate to die on the cross for the world’s sins. And when an angel speaks to Him, that angel is not there to prove anything to Jesus … the angel is there to prove something to everyone else. Jesus is the Son of God! I remember in my youth being really excited about Christmas. It always seemed to take forever to arrive. New Year’s Day followed shortly afterwards, offering the chance to make New Year’s resolutions that I very rarely kept in a half-hearted effort at bettering myself. One Christmas is especially poignant for me now, as we watched a movie at my then-in-laws telling the story of Jesus. I don’t remember much about the movie itself but that family viewing actually became a milestone moment in my own religious journey for another reason. It’s funny how the simplest situations can sometimes become milestones as you reflect on them. It seems the film told the whole story of Jesus, not just the Christmas story of His birth. And when Jesus is seen riding a donkey into Jerusalem, the family matriarch insisted we turn it off. I thought that was kind of silly at the time. Except that now I do the same thing. The birth of Jesus is a story for the Christmas season. The story of the crucifixion is for Easter. And now as an adult I actually look forward to Easter more than Christmas and New Year’s Day. Want a gift? You aren’t going to get one more heart-felt than Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins. And the time of the resurrection this time of year seems a much better time for change than when making your New Year’s resolutions in January. Not to mention that Easter comes at the beginning of spring, so rebirth is happening all around us in nature as well. Today’s reading has a parting line that it is also time for the world to be judged. Looking around the world today, I would have to say I would not want judgment day to happen now with all of the commotion in the world. Some say they can’t wait for Jesus to return in glory … to me, it’s more like waiting for dad to come home from work when you know you’ve been bad all day. It’s not like I’m expecting Jesus to come back to the world all happy with the way we’ve honored His sacrifice by our continuing to sin. But like I said before it’s Easter time! It’s the time for rebirth! Spring is near! What a great time to rededicate ourselves to improving not only ourselves but our world around us. Another orator with the initials MJ once said he would start with “the man in the mirror,” asking him to change his ways. Easter is a great time to do a bit of retrospect. Take a look at yourself, decide what you want to change and make that effort. But at the same time, take a look also at what is great about you. What it is that is uniquely great about you, that is something you would like on a spiritual resume. Give those aspects a boost, even as you seek to change what you can. But remember, in the famous words of St. Francis of Assisi, to ask God for the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Do what you can, start with yourself, pray to God for strength. Improve what you can. Make your own imprint on the world, regardless of just how large it is. And yes, I am talking to myself just as much as any of you. Every day at work I think about just how much more I could - and maybe should - be doing. I hear compliments about how often my stories land on page 1 quite often. But that is not always a good thing. Most of the time it’s bad news, to be honest. Truth to tell, taking on the job as education reporter was supposed to be only a temporary stepping stone to get my foot in the door at a new place of employment. That job in itself almost immediately became something bigger. In just a little over a year, I’ve reported on a school shooting, a stabbing, not one but two ousters of school district superintendents … the list goes on. It’s certainly job security, but do these stories really help in any way, I ask? Maybe like the “prophets” Lynyrd Skynyrd once said, “All I Can Do Is Write About It.” Hopefully spreading the news opens up peoples’ eyes and sparks conversation. Maybe those stories do help in some way. But that introspect of myself and my work and its importance is invaluable. Take a good look in that “mirror” at your own daily lives and activities and interactions with others. Learn from the past and use that to improve the future. Reflect on your own personal “milestones” of the past and build from them. It’s the season of Easter, the time for rebirth. Jesus’ time has come. It’s also time for all of us - “all” not being solely those in this church but those of us all around the world - to really make an effort to better ourselves and the world. The time has come - so make the best use of that time that you can. Amen.